Immortality
by Daughter of Pallas Athena
Summary: Warning. Contains large, glaring spoilers to The Last Olympian. Annabeth Chase once considered immortality as a hunter of Artemis, but what exactly caused her to change her mind? How did she feel, when Percy, her Seaweed Brain, was offered immortality?


**Welcome everyone to my third fan fiction! At the moment, this concludes my one-shot series _Twice I Was Wrong, and Once I Did Not Wish to Be Right. _If you could spare the time, please review, it truly means a lot. I welcome all kinds of feed back, I just want to know what people think of my writing style. **

**Warning. Contains slight spoilers to _The Titan's Curse_ and _The Battle of the Labyrinth_. The following work also contains large, glaring spoilers to _The Last Olympian._ Beware all readers who have not finished these three books. **

**I, Daughter of Pallas Athena, in no way, shape, or form, have any legal claim to _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_, it is the property of Rick Riordan and the Disney operated company, Hyperion. **

**I shall now end this annoyingly long author's note and present the work. Enjoy!**

**-Pallas**

_Immortality_

_**The summer before the Battle of Olympus…**_

Immortality. Eternal youth. During my early adolescence, I pondered at length the idea. The promise of eternity with the goddess Artemis seemed quite attractive while suffering through the dangers of being a demigod, half immortal and half mortal. However, when the thoughts of being nearly invincible faded, much darker thoughts took root.

First, I thought of my mother and the other Olympians. They were truly immortal, they could not die, but they could fade. What torture it must be to be immortal. To have been worshiped for centuries, revered and feared by all. Then, to be forgotten, replaced by other so called deities. To live in a world that no longer believed you existed. Surely, such agony would destroy me.

Next, I thought of my family. How would it feel to watch loved ones grow old and withered, then die, while you stayed forever young? Wouldn't your loved ones resent you, be jealous of you, for conquering death? My half-brothers were so young, they wouldn't understand. I would watch them grow, become great men, and then…I would watch my pestering, pig-headed brothers, Bobby and Mathew, become weak and frail and all the while, I would remain young and strong. Surely, the heart ache would kill my mind and soul while my body lived on in eternal torment.

When I first thought of immortality, which occurred while working with the Hunters, my feelings for Percy Jackson were quite vague and intertwined with uncertainty. So, when I first gathered reasons to convince myself not to become a Hunter, he was excluded from the list. After our adventure in Daedalus' labyrinth, however, my feelings disentangled themselves from the knot they were so tightly wound in. It seemed quite an achievement , considering that my feelings were more securely twisted than the Gordian Knot. At this awakening, I gained a third reason to support my decision not to become a servant of Artemis.

I love Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and being a maiden for eternity would make it impossible for me to ever act on my feelings. Also, being a maiden would certainly not in anyway give cause for Percy to prefer me over that stupid, red-headed _mortal_. Speaking of the mortal, I now have four reasons for not embracing immortality.

I, could not under any circumstances (unless of course I discovered that Percy did indeed care for her like I cared for him) allow Rachel Elizabeth Dare to steal Seaweed Brain from me before I even got a chance to confess my feelings.

**After the defeat of Kronos in the Second Titan War, in the throne room of Olympus…**

Percy saved Olympus, the war was over and we were safe for the time being. Luke was dead, along with many of our brave friends from Camp Half-Blood. Luke. The name no longer brought pain or anger. He had redeemed himself, barely. Technically, Luke was the hero of the day and I should really give him more slack, but I couldn't just forget all that he had done before.

He had sacrificed himself to save Olympus, but I agreed with gods and everyone else when the credit was presented to Percy. None of us would have survived to see the end of the war if it were not for his leadership. He bore the mantle of being commander, the one to blame if we failed, a mantle I believe, which was far heavier and more agonizing than the curse of Atlas.

Though logically I knew that the danger was behind us, I felt fear and anticipation tightly coiled in the pit of my stomach. This strange feeling increased ten fold when Percy was called forth to receive his reward for saving us all. When Zeus offered him immortality, a lieutenant position by his father's side, I felt my heart halt along with my breathing. All rejoicing from being named the chief architect of Olympus ceased immediately within my thoughts. I could feel my mother's piercing gray eyes upon me, but I ignored her and focused on Percy.

He would accept. I was sure of it. He greatly admired Hercules, one of the few heroes to ever receive immortality. The thought of Percy becoming a god tortured me to no end. Even if he did feel the same as I did for him and we became a couple, I would eventually die. Percy would still live and most likely move on to another woman. One mortal could not hold the heart of god forever. It just was not possible. Eternity is something one cannot fathom. It's length can never be truly understood.

My excruciating thoughts pierced my heart, one by one. I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my tortured expression and to hold back any cries that would betray my feelings. Blinking away tears, my gaze never wavered from the tall, handsome form of Perseus Jackson.

Once, he looked back at me during Zeus' offer, but I didn't take much heed from it., but when Percy uttered that simple, two lettered refusal, I nearly screamed in joy. The second time he turned my heart suddenly started beating again. Perhaps…he loved me too.

Never in my life had I been so exuberant about having been wrong, which is certainly saying something when you are a daughter of Athena. Percy did not accept immortality and on his birthday, hours after the final battle, we confessed our long hidden feelings. A daughter of Athena and a son of Poseidon, who have thought?

_Di immortales_! Athena, my mother, was not going to be pleased about the new relationship between Percy and I. Oh, the perils of being a demigod. Where monsters and titans failed to subdue me, my murderous, goddess of war mother would certainly prevail.


End file.
